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There's little to complain about in Bangkok's food scene.
The city's street vendors serve up tasty and cheap soups, rice and noodle dishes, among other Thai standards. Numerous eateries provide a range of well-regarded global cuisine, whether it's crème brûlée, carbonara or ceviche.
But what about one of the most humble of Western food staples: bread? Until recently, residents had to make due with low-quality local loaves or standard, mass-produced fare sold at grocery stores.
Two recently opened shops, however, have Bangkok's carb-loving residents rejoicing.
BKK Bagel Bakery
BKK Bagel Bakery sells homemade, New York-style bagels (plain, salt, whole wheat, poppy seed, sesame and 'everything'), as well as sandwiches, lox and cream cheese.
The bagels have the right texture and consistency ─ crucial qualities for bagel connoisseurs ─ because the dough is boiled, says co-founder Eric Seldin, a Washington, D.C., native. He teamed up with a Thai partner, Tri Kanchanadul, to open the cafe in March. Both men found Bangkok bagels lacking, so they set out to do them correctly.
Mr. Seldin reckons they now offer the only proper New York-style bagels in Southeast Asia, if not East Asia, as well. 'Others import dough,' he says, and don't make their products from scratch.
In assembling the menu, he says he focused on 'the things I liked as a kid: tuna melts, roast beef, lox.' One of the café's most popular bagel sandwiches is the 'Show Stopper': turkey, havarti cheese, bacon, avocado and mustard. Another sandwich, 'Moishe's Lunch,' consists of corned beef and sauerkraut.
BKK sees a steady steam of customers, especially at lunchtime, and has attracted attention among local bloggers. Its bagels recently became available in Bangkok's first Dean and Deluca, as well as in a café at the U.S. Embassy.
Urban Pantry
518/3 Maneeya Center, Ploenchit Road, Bangkok 10330
Urban Pantry is run by 36-year-old Arkansas native Benjamin Lord. A financial-services adviser by day, he began baking gourmet bread at home for fun last year, after a friend gave him the book 'Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day.'
Mr. Lord started baking six to eight loaves a week and selling them to acquaintances, but he now churns out as many as 120 loaves a week for a customer base that includes Americans, Australians, Europeans and Thais.
The delivery-only business has no commercial front and no standalone website but has gained popularity through word of mouth and social media like Facebook and Twitter.
Popular items include fire-roasted chili and cheddar whole-wheat bread, sun-dried-tomato-and-garlic sourdough, and New York-deli-style rye. Urban Pantry also sells biscotti, zucchini pickles, coleslaw and garlic-marinated sweet red peppers.
'The concept is to stock your pantry with things you can't get or that you miss from home,' Mr. Lord says.
The dishes reflect his background: He graduated from New York University and lived in the city for a year before moving to Ho Chi Minh City. He lived there for four years and worked in the import-export industry. He has been in Bangkok for nearly 10 years.
Urban Pantry's carrot-miso-ginger dressing was inspired, Mr. Lord says, by his days in New York, when he encountered such sauces in East Village restaurants. His Southern roots are reflected in quirky comfort foods like the occasionally available 'kitchen-sink potato salad,' whose recipe changes based on what's on hand.
He also uses his sales and marketing skills, he says, to provide his customers with personalized services, soliciting their feedback and suggesting products to order based on their family size and eating habits.
'Thai breads can be too sweet,' says Eric Forbes, an American based in Bangkok who orders frequently from Urban Pantry. He's become a fan of Urban Pantry's sourdough loaves and likes that the rye 'tastes different each week,' he says.
Mr. Lord says he hasn't made many concessions to local tastes, and he hasn't aimed to fill a void for products that weren't previously available. He says he uses all-natural ingredients, buying organic when he can and even preparing the sun-dried tomatoes himself.
One product is created strictly the way it's made in the South: his coleslaw. 'I use only Kraft mayonnaise,' he says.
Mr. Lord will soon be opening a dedicated baking facility in Bangkok but plans to continue his delivery-only model for now.
'I have no food and beverage experience,' he says, adding that his love of food is his driving force. 'That's basically it,' he says. 'I like to eat good.'
參考譯文：
吃在曼谷沒有什么好挑剔的。這個城市的街頭小販提供各種美味而廉價的湯、米飯和面條，以及其他各種泰式美食。大量餐館供應各式備受食客好評的全球各地風味美食，從法國的甜點烤布蕾（creme brulee）、意大利的奶油培根面（carbonara）到拉丁風味海鮮沙拉（ceviche），不一而足。
那么西式食物中最不起眼的主食面包呢？一直以來，在曼谷只能吃到雜貨店售賣的低質本地面包或批量生產的普通貨色，直到最近，這種情況才有了改觀──兩家新開張的面包店給曼谷的淀粉質食物愛好者帶來了欣喜。
BKK Bagel Bakery
BKK Bagel Bakery出售自制的紐約式面包圈（無味的、咸的、全麥的、罌粟籽的、芝麻的，等等等等，應有盡有），還賣三明治、熏鮭魚和奶油乳酪。
面包店的共同創辦者、來自美國華盛頓市的埃里克•賽爾丁（Eric Seldin）說，面包圈的口感和韌度都恰到好處──這可是面包圈行家最重視的品質──因為用的是燙面。他與他的泰國合伙人特里•坎查納多（Tri Kanchanadul）今年3月一起開了這家店。兩人都發現了曼谷現有的面包圈的不足之處，于是開了這家店，采用正確的方法來制作面包圈。
賽爾丁估計，他們就算在東亞不算獨家，至少也是東南亞地區目前出售正宗紐約式面包圈的唯一一家面包店。他說，其他家都進口面團，而且不是整個生產環節都親力親為。在口味的組合上，賽爾丁說他著重于自己小時候喜歡的東西：金槍魚三明治、烤牛肉、熏鮭魚。店里最受歡迎的面包圈三明治叫“壓軸戲”（Show Stopper），有火雞肉、哈瓦蒂干酪、培根、鱷梨加芥末醬。另一種三明治“摩西午餐”（Moishe’s Lunch）里頭則有牛肉粒和酸菜。
BKK的人氣穩步提升，特別是午餐時段，而且吸引了當地眾多博客的注意。他們的面包圈最近在曼谷首間Dean and Deluca超市開始供應，在美國大使館的一家咖啡廳里也有售。
Urban Pantry
（曼谷Ploenchit路Maneeya Center 3樓518室（10330））
Urban Pantry由36歲的阿肯色州人本杰明•羅德（Benjamin Lord）經營。他的本職是金融服務顧問，去年朋友送了他一本《五分鐘手工面包》（Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day）之后，他出于好玩開始在家烤制美味面包。
羅德起初每星期烤六至八條面包，把它們賣給熟人。現在他每周要做120條面包，顧客包括美國人、澳大利亞人、歐洲人和泰國人。
這項只供外賣的業務沒做廣告，也沒有獨立網站，但卻通過口口相傳及Facebook和Twitter等社交媒體贏得了知名度。
最受歡迎的品種包括辣椒和切達奶酪全麥面包、蕃茄干香蒜酵母面包和紐約熟食店里常見的裸麥面包。此外還出售意大利脆餅、西葫蘆腌菜、涼拌卷心菜絲和蒜香甜紅椒。
羅德說，“我的理念是用你缺少或買不到的東西豐富你家食品柜的內容。”
羅德提供的產品反映出了他的生活背景：他畢業于紐約大學（New York University），在紐約居住一年后移居胡志明市，在那里生活了四年，就職于進出口業。如今他在曼谷已經住了將近十年。
羅德說，Urban Pantry的胡蘿卜味噌生姜調料靈感源自他在紐約的生活，當時他在East Village餐廳見到了這種調味汁。有些怪怪的懷舊食物則是因為他是在美國南方長大的，像偶爾供應的“洗碗槽土豆沙拉”，其配方不定，完全就是手頭現成有什么就弄什么。
羅德說，他還運用了自己的銷售和市場技能，給顧客提供個性化服務，索求他們的反饋，根據他們的家庭人數和飲食習慣推薦他們訂購何種產品。
長住曼谷的美國人艾瑞克•福布斯（Eric Forbes）說：“泰國面包通常都太甜了。”他頻繁地訂購Urban Pantry的美食，如今他已經成了酵母面包的粉絲，也喜歡“每個星期味道都不一樣”的裸麥面包。
羅德說，他沒有過多遷就當地口味，也沒專門去填補之前所沒有的產品的空缺。他說他采用的都是全天然食材，盡可能買有機原料，甚至自己制作蕃茄干。
有一種產品是嚴格按照美國南方的制作方式烹制的──涼拌卷心菜絲。羅德說，“我只用卡夫牌蛋黃醬。”
羅德不久將在曼谷開設一家專做面點的店鋪，但是計劃延用目前的只供外賣的模式。
他說，“我沒有制作食物和飲品的經驗。”他表示，對食物的熱愛是他的動力。“基本上是因為，我自己喜歡吃得好。”
